Fifteen
by HofYecats
Summary: Emily sees a young girl in the same predicament as herself, 22 years ago. Written for ArwenLalaith's Gone Country Challenge, Post.Ep/Charecter Challenge: Demonology. Enjoy! Rated T for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

"When all you wanted was to be wanted, wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now... 'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you that they love you, you're gonna believe them. And when you're fifteen, don't forget to look before you fall. I've found time can heal most anything and you just might find who you're supposed to be... I didn't know who I was supposed to be at fifteen." - **Taylor Swift **(_Fifteen_)

**Fifteen**

Emily Prentiss watched as the girl made her way down the aisle of the drug store; a green basket in hand, gray sweatshirt-hood covering half her face. She wouldn't have paid much attention to her, if it weren't for the fact she was headed towards an area of the store Emily had been only once in her life. She stopped several times to look at the paperback novels on display before walking down the last aisle in the store and stopping at the very end.

It was where the pregnancy tests were kept. And she put one in her basket.

The girl quickly tried to cover it up with a jumbo bag of chips, and a six pack carton of soda, but the white corner of the box was still visible as its right corner peeked out from under the junk food; a death sentence contained in a tiny box. Or perhaps more accurately not a death sentence, but an ender-of-life sentence. Either way, the sight of it caused Agent Prentiss to gasp slightly, and before she knew what she was doing, Emily stepped forward and blocked the girl's way, dropping her own basket of merchandise in the process.

"What are you going to do if it says positive?" she asked quietly, lowering her voice more for the sake of the girl than for the rest of the store.

"Excuse me?" she asked, her voice indignant, bordering on angry. However there was an edge to her voice, a tone that was almost hidden beneath her arrogantly arranged features. Emily would have thought she was mistaken if it weren't for the fact that she recognized the sound all too well.

The girl was scared, and Emily knew why.

"The test" she indicated with her right hand, "what are you going to do if it's positive?"

The girl paused for moment, before deciding on the best course of action. "You have no fucking idea what you're talking about lady!" she whispered, "get outta my way!"

And with that said, she attempted to push the female agent out of her path and storm out of the store. Yet as she made a move to touch her, Emily swiftly stepped to the side causing the girls left arm—and force for that matter—to meet thin air, where she overbalanced and fell to the floor. The contents of her basket spilled out on to the tile and Emily could plainly see that she was right. It was a pregnancy test, and this girl was no more than sixteen years of age.

"How old are you?" came the next question, as she offered her hand to the girl sprawled on the floor.

"None of your goddamn business!" screeched the young lady, who was looking younger and younger at every passing second. She accepted Emily's offer of assistance however, and brushed off her clothes in annoyance as she began to gather up her items.

Emily watched her as she made her way to the checkout counter, grabbing one of the paperback novels off the rack and ripping open a candy bar as she waited in line. Quickly gathering her own fallen items, she tailed the girl and stood directly behind her as the fat women behind the counter began scanning her items.

"That'll be $26.89, please" said the woman, smiling kindly down at the young girl. Her smile faded almost instantaneously as the girl held up one more item which the woman had forgotten to scan. "Oh, um, well that'll be $38.52 now, dear" she finished, her face plainly spelling out an "oh dear…" waiting to happen.

"I…I've only got 30 bucks" murmured the girl, who looked suddenly as though she were about to cry.

Emily felt a sudden surge of empathy for the girl as she remembered a much more awkward encounter she herself had had 22 years ago. She stepped forward without thinking and grabbed the girl's test out of her hands before placing a 50 dollar bill on the conveyor belt and shifting her position so that she was angled towards the girl.

"Here" smiled Emily confidently, "I'll pay for those. They're, uh, for me. My husband and I are expecting our second child" she finished, placing a protective hand on the girl's shoulder.

The girl blinked in surprise at the sudden action, but decided to play along as she forced a convincing smile and turned to glance at Emily in a rather light-hearted way. "Gosh, mom, but I thought you wanted me to use my allowance today…?"

"That's okay, sweetie" beamed Emily, handing over the cash, "I'll take it from here"

The woman, who had looked so concerned less than a second ago, looked quite happy right at the moment and accepted Emily's 50 dollar bill.

"Listen to your mother, dear" scolded the woman in relief as she handed over Emily's change, "That'll be $46.50 with the other items included. Your change is…$3.50 honey. Will that be paper or plastic?"

"Uh, paper" finished the girl, before Emily could open her mouth, "So…dad doesn't see what's inside. We don't want to ruin the surprise for him, do we?" she finished, faking a laugh and tossing her pretty brown hair over her shoulder.

Emily nodded quickly, a message of understanding passing between them, before accepting the brown paper bags and loading them into a cart.

"Congratulations!" called the woman, as Emily and the girl made to leave the store, "But you shouldn't be eating so much junk food! It's bad for the baby!"

"We know!" yelled the girl in response, something else surfacing in her voice.

"And thanks!" replied Emily, elbowing her in the ribs.

_What a strange little family_ thought the woman as she pulled off her apron and proceeded to change shifts. _For a second there I thought that girl…_

* * *

"Whoa-whoa, whoa wait! Where the hell do you think you're going?" asked Emily as the pair finished loading Emily's items into her car. Sighing a little as she shifted her own items, the girl looked up at Emily with weary eyes and raised an eyebrow before continuing on her way.

"Look lady, thanks for the help but I don't even _know _you" she rolled her eyes, "And if you don't mind I think it'd just be better if I thanked you kindly for your help and was on my way, and we can both pretend this never happened, okay?"

"Listen, you think I don't know but I—"

"You _don't_ know, okay!? You have no idea. And I'm not some stupid teenaged bimbo who got caught up in the moment, or some drugged up alcohol chugging kid who had no clue what they were doing. And I'm definitely not your charity case, so just butt out okay!?"

"_Not_ okay!!! I _know_. Listen to me; I _know _what it's like to—"

"The universe won't be a better place if you convince me not to get an abortion!! You don't get an award for saving a life; you're not doing 'god's will'. You're just another bible-camp councilor who thinks they can change shit about the world, but you're wrong! There are too many people on this crappy earth anyway and I don't need to go bringing another one in to it who's just gonna be eating out of food banks and living on the streets—"

"Please, just hear me out—"

"I can't feed this kid! I can't clothe him, I can't send him to school, and I can't get him into collage without giving up my_ life_! I can't give him music lessons or take him to the park or get him a puppy!" she yelled, crying now, her words coming in choked sobs.

"I can't drive him to school or tell him not to drink coffee or teach him about cooties. I can't do any of that shit! I'm only fifteen and I can't let this kid come into the world, not now—not, not…ever" she finished, letting the tears flow freely into her sweatshirt, "So please…just leave me alone"

Turning to go, she stumbled again, dropping her packages and falling to the ground. Pulling her knees towards her face she began to cry in earnest now, shaking with every breath that escaped her small mouth.

On the verge of tears herself, Emily gathered up the girl's items and placed them in the trunk of her car before sitting down next to the girl and putting her arms around her momentarily. She waited patiently for the sobs to let up before helping the girl to her feet for the second time that hour and brushing off the loose gravel from her clothes.

"I was just going to ask you…why are you so sure it's a boy?" whispered Emily kindly.

Before the girl could answer, Emily had walked her towards the passenger side of the car and lifted her inside, locking the seatbelt around her. Walking around to the driver's side she hopped in herself, and as she put the key in the ignition she turned to the girl and said with the most authority she could muster,

"You're going to have to tell me where you live, because I'm driving you home"

"Thanks but—"

"No buts. And you may or may not like it, but you're getting a free ride home in a luxury Prius and someone just paid for your groceries, so just shut up and don't look a gift horse in the mouth"

The girl looked as though she were about to argue, but the fight suddenly went out of her eyes and she leaned her head back onto her seat, closing her mouth and shutting her eyes as though she was drifting off into a exhausted sleep.

"472 Malvern Ave. Happy now?" she scoffed.

Emily let out a sigh as they rolled out of the parking lot in silence, and she bit her lower lip contemplatively before asking her next question.

"Have you eaten anything yet?" she asked, mentally kicking herself for what she was about to do.

"Um…noooo. Why, may I ask?" replied the girl, still managing to insert a trace of sarcasm in her voice despite the obvious fatigue that was making its self known.

"Good" replied Emily, not taking her eyes off the road, "Because we're about to have a little chat"

* * *

** A/N: Okay....so that was a little different from what I normally write. But, I think I'm kind of proud of it! Anyways, anyone who's read my stories knows I have a problem updating, but I really hope not to lose this one in the disorganized filing cabinet that is called my mind. I hope to leave this as a two-shot, since it was originally supposed to be a one-shot but got a little too big for me to handle. So, Merry Christmas to all of you and please make my day be reviewing!!! I would consider that the best possible gift I could ever recieve, so please just click that little green button...Thanks for reading, by the way! And have a great Christmas!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi there! *smiles sheepishly* Thanks for all the previous reviews, they really made my day. Here is the second chapter. It's kind of really long, angsty, and has so much dialogue it's not even funny, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. Here you go!**

**Chapter 2**

The burger joint was almost completely deserted as the two of them walked in; hair and clothing completely disheveled due to the fierce wind outside, cheeks rosy-pink with color. Emily noticed that the girl was shivering despite the sudden heat of the furnace inside, and she made a note to sit closer to the center of the place where it would be warmer. However the girl had different plans as she led Emily to the table closest to the door, and pulled out a chair for her to sit. Emily obliged and lowered herself onto the chair, before the girl walked around the small table and sat down directly across from her.

Her features were determined looking now, and she glanced at Emily with a put-on air of indifference. Emily thought she must've come to the conclusion of something while they were in the car, because she looked much more prepared for a fight, and Emily let out a sigh knowing it was going to be twice as much difficult to get any information off of this girl. Or get her point across.

So sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Emily leaned her chin on her palm and tilted her head to the side as she waited for the girl to speak. It didn't take long.

"So fine, talk" she said, "what do you want to know? How it happened? How I expect to tell my parents? How I expect to raise a child by myself? You wanna talk, let's talk"

"Well for starters, what do you want to eat?" asked Emily, reaching for a menu placed conveniently between the two of them. The girl rolled her eyes at the question; an action that Emily noticed was becoming more and more common in the time they spent together, and she answered Emily with a slight edge to her voice.

"I'm not hungry"

"Then eat something for the baby"

"_What_ baby!? We don't even know if there _is_ one!"

"Well not only did you refer to it as a 'he', but you also expressed concern for its well-being so I'd say you're a little more than just suspicious of its presence"

"Yeah, well…that's why I have the test don't I?"

"Well, yes, I suppose so" finished Emily, admitting defeat, "Have you taken it yet?"

"Hmm, let's see…well it's still in the trunk of your car in a little paper bag, so I'm gonna guess no?" asked the girl, her sarcasm taking on an almost malicious sounding tone.

"I meant" _you dumbass_, Emily added in her head, "Have you peed on any other plastic sticks lately?"

The girl seemed taken aback by the rudeness of Emily's question, and blinked quickly before answering in a defeated tone, "Just one"

"And?"

"It was positive. But they only have like a, what, 90 percent accuracy rate?"

"Actually, it's more like 97. And if you're done, I'd at least like to know what your name is"

Narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, the girl glared at Emily before speaking again. "You first" she challenged, "And what agency do you work for?"

Emily tossed her dark brown hair over her shoulder and gazed at the girl with tired eyes before obliging her with the information.

"I don't work for an adoption agency, if that's what you're thinking. And I'm not part of an anti-abortion campaign either. My name's Emily Prentiss and I work for the FBI as a—"

"Oh, fuck yes!" yelled the girl, burying her face in her hands, "Great Job, Em, you sure know how to pick 'em. The one person who seems to actually give a shit about you is a cop. Good fucking job, Emmy. You're in a _load_ of shit now…"

Glancing up to see Emily's confused face; the girl sighed and lowered her hands again.

"You're gonna call my dad now" she said. It was a statement, not a question and the girl wasn't looking for confirmation of it. If anything, she was eyeing the door to the exit. Emily, realizing that the girl was planning to make a run for it, shook her head slowly and proceeded to flip through the menu steadily without reading a thing.

"So your name's Emmy… huh. Look Emmy, I won't call your dad. Not unless you want me to. I—um, know what it's like to be afraid of being disowned by someone who should love you more than anything. And I wouldn't put you through that. So I'm not going to call him. Not unless he can undo what you've already done"

Realizing exactly how that sounded, Emily backtracked and looked up from the menu suddenly, "That is, I mean, unless he can change the past. Not the other thing…"

Raising her eyebrows a little, the girl, Emmy, leaned forward to whisper in a voice that suddenly sounded much older than what a normal fifteen year old should sound like.

"How could you possibly know? You keep saying that, but you couldn't possibly know. You couldn't know what it's like to move to a new town, and be the outsider and have to deal with clawing out a little hole for you to sit in for the next four fucking years. You couldn't possibly know what it's like to finally meet someone who wants to be your friend, and then have them take it too far. You couldn't possibly know what it's like to have a living thing growing inside of you, and be scared shitless of what to do with it. So stop saying you know, because you couldn't possibly know, could you?"

There was a silence between the two of them before Emily answered the question in a quiet voice. "I could" she replied.

"How!? How in fucking god's name could you understand?"

"Because I got pregnant when I was fifteen too, okay? Now are you going to order, or shall I do it for you?" countered Emily, dropping her gaze once more.

* * *

"I don't know" sighed Emmy, "… I mean my dad's the manager of this "band" thing, which is really just a bunch of middle aged white guys playing bad rock from the eighties. And they've been touring for a while now so I haven't really been going to school—just dad teaching me algebra and shit. So when we finally settled in, well, whatever this shithole is called—"

"Quantico"

"Okay, fine, _Quantico_. Dad enrolled me in high school, and god knows new kids always get the short end of the social acceptance stick. So when this guy—Darren—asks me out, I didn't say no. And well, he has a sister, Abby and she was really nice and we became friends and I went to their house a couple of times and before you know it he wants to take our relationship to another level and I didn't stop him—"

"And the rest is history?" interrupted Emily, guessing the outcome of the story.

"Well…yeah" finished Emmy, looking a little deflated, "The rest is history"

After a pause in which the two of them stared at the table in silence, Emmy looked up from the beaten down wood and met Emily's intense stare.

"So… so how did it happen for you?" she asked, her voice now timid sounding. Emily would've teased her about the sudden change in demeanor if it weren't for the seriousness of the question.

And the fact that it wasn't a memory she would ever laugh about, no matter how long she lived.

"Well…my mother—"

"How come you never just call her 'mom'? She's always 'mother' or 'Ambassador Prentiss' but never mom. Why is that—?"

"Do you want to hear this or not?" Emily snapped, crunching the napkin in her hand into a tiny little ball. Seeing the way Emmy flinched at her sudden outburst, Emily let out a sigh and returned the napkin to its former state.

"Sorry. I guess…I guess I kind of blame her for what happened in Italy, you know? I just… a part of me didn't want her to find out because I knew it would basically ruin her career forever. And she'd never forgive me for it. Another part of me knew she just wouldn't be there for me period. So with that in mind, I knew I wouldn't have a place to go and neither would the baby. Top that all off with the fact that I didn't know how to be a mom anyways and the fact that my I'd have no moral or financial support in this, plus the fact that I was scared—"

"Shitless?" added Emmy.

"Yeah. I just…couldn't do it. I got scared and I panicked and the next thing you know I'm lying on operating table thinking, 'Am I doing the right thing? Am I actually killing a living thing inside of me? Am I going to hell?' Matthew, the guy I told you about earlier, he helped me through all of it. He was the one who got me a doctor and everything and he was the one who…held my hand when it was happening. But I think the whole thing just made him question everything about well, life. Religion, I guess. And some questions just don't have answers… "

Emily finished the little speech with a quick nervous swallow and looked up momentarily to see Emmy's face. She looked back at Emily without so much as a blink and bit her lip in concentration before continuing her side of the discussion.

"My mom left for Hollywood when I was really little" she finally admitted, "She thought she was gonna make it big. She thought she had a chance at being the next big star. Instead, she ended up working in nightclubs as a waitress and getting her ass slapped for extra tips. But I'm pretty sure even that's not enough to make ends meet for her so I'm guessing she also, uh, does street corners"

"Street corner…? Ohhhh"

"Yeah"

"Gosh. Well look at us. Aren't we just a cheery bunch of customers?"

Emmy laughed at this and shook her head. "We really are"

"Yeah…we really are" repeated Emily

She paused for a minute before continuing her story.

"I hated my mom so much" she laughed "but I guess I hated her because I loved her so much and I never felt anything back. So no, I couldn't turn to her then and I don't think I'd be able to turn to her now. She just wouldn't be there for me"

"Yeah, mine wouldn't be either, although I'm not really sure when I think about it. Every year no matter where we were we'd still get a post card for Christmas from her. I dunno why she bothered but she still kept it up and we actually got one yesterday"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And it's got a picture of Santa Claus on it and everything. I stopped believing in him when I was five and she _knows_ that. You think she would've changed the theme by now"

"You don't have to be a kid to appreciate Santa Claus"

"You don't have to an adult to get pregnant"

"Touché"

"You kids have been sittin' here for the past hour and you haven' ordered shit. It's Christmas day, 8:10pm and I wanna go home so either order something or get the hell out, ya hear!?" Came a voice from directly behind them.

An older woman with badly dyed red hair and bloodshot eyes suddenly leaned on the table they were sitting at and eyed them both with a furious gaze. She turned the stare onto Emmy before settling on Emily and leaning lower to get right in her face.

"So what'll it be? Buy something or get out?" she whispered menacingly.

"We're leaving, don't worry" smiled Emily brightly, standing up to pull her coat around herself again. As she did so, she accidentally flashed her gun resting snugly in the holster by her hip, and the woman immediately did a double take as she took in the sight of the weapon.

"Never mind, I'm sorry. It's just been a rough day" she apologized, backing away quickly.

"You're telling me", muttered Emmy, as she followed Emily out the door, "Come on, let's get the hell outta here"

* * *

As the black Prius pulled up in front of the tiny townhouse, Emily suddenly produced a business card from her pocket and handed it to the girl before she got out of the car. Emmy looked at her questioningly before accepting it and folding it into a more manageable size, stuffing it into her own pocket and opening the car door.

"I'm not your charity case though" she said. It was a warning, and Emily understood what it meant perfectly.

"I know. But if you ever need help…I'm a phone call away, okay?"

Emmy shook her head tiredly and stepped out of the car with her groceries. "Sure…thanks. Bye"

"Bye"

She looked as though she were about to leave, but instead turned around to look at Emily one more time. "Why do you wanna help me so badly?"

Emily sighed once more and now it was her turn to shake her head. "Honestly?" she asked, "I have no idea"

*************

**A/N: Wow. Oh my God, I've just **_**Degrassi-ed**_** my story. Noooooo… **

**So tell me what you think. Did I over-do it a little? Was it too long? Wait don't answer that I think I already know. Eep. Review please. Even if it's only to give me a head shake. And have a safe and happy Boxing Day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Ack. The dialogue kills me every time.**

**Chapter 3**

It was almost a week later when the call came.

Emily Prentiss was suddenly jerked out of a sound sleep when it happened, and her sleep deprived mind was capable of forming only one word: Hotch.

Swearing mercilessly, she grappled for the cell phone sitting peacefully on her bedside table and verbally cursed the newest UNSUB who was causing Aaron Hotchner to cut short the Christmas holidays for everyone on the team. Her mind sadly rested on Jack Hotchner, his son, who was greatly looking forward to his father's whole week off and she shivered slightly as she wondered what could be so awful that this case couldn't wait. If there was one thing people could never stop doing, it was killing each other. Even for a week.

So with a great sigh, an action that was becoming more and more common to her as the years went on, Emily answered the phone with one hand covering her eyes and one hand gripping the phone exhaustedly as she waited for the gut wrenchingly horrible news.

"Prentiss" she groaned, not bothering to keep the sleep out of her voice.

There was a thirty second pause in which all she could hear was a heavy breathing over the other end of the line. Thinking it might be a prank and mentally cursing all teenagers all over the world, Emily spoke again, "Hello?"

"_Emily?"_ came a tiny voice, so quiet Emily almost missed its sound. The term, 'oh shit' couldn't begin to describe the panic in her voice.

"Emmy, are you okay? What's wrong?" asked Emily, sitting up suddenly with the desire for sleep abruptly leaving her body. A small amount of relief was permitted to make itself known to her as she realized that it wasn't another case. But it was soon replaced by another feeling of guilt and mostly fear as she wondered what in the world could shake such a seemingly unshakable child, "What happened?"

"_You said….you said you were a phone call away?"_ asked Emmy, hesitating as she asked the question.

Emily checked the time on her bedside alarm clock and saw that it was 5:56 in the morning, "Um, yeah I guess I did. What happened?"

"_I…I threw up" _she admitted, sounding almost ashamed as she repeated her action,_ "I think its morning sickness"_

**A/N: Okay, everyone who's read my stuff before knows that I have a MAJOR issue with continuing past the third chapter (see **_**Nightmares of the World**_**) so nothing was different when it came to this particular story. I sincerely apologize if this has taken a significant turn for the worse, and I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I know that if I am to do better in the next chapter, I'm going to need a hell of a lot of encouragement. So, um, if there was ever a time to review, please do so for this chapter, I'd **_**really**_** appreciate it****. **

**Oh and PS: gigantic sorry for this chapter being so short. Like I said, MAJOR issues…**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ha, ha! Success!!!! I can't believe I'm actually writing more, Woo-hoo!!! *dances around randomly* Thank you guys all so much for all the encouraging reviews and comments and offers of help, they really made me smile and gave me a boost****. You are all incredibly awesome people so this one's for you guys, enjoy!**

**Oooh, btw, special thanks to susannah2000 for the extra insight!!! Thanks for the help ;) you ROCK!!!**

**Warning: This chapter **_**will**_** be short and angsty. Just, so you know *shrugs* sorry about that...**

**Chapter 4**

The two of them didn't speak as Emily started the car and rolled out of the driveway carefully, wary of the black ice on the roads this time of year. She looked over at Emmy several times, trying to start an easy conversation between the two of them, like the last time they were alone, but she could only open her mouth momentarily before being forced to close it again and swallow her words as she saw the look on Emmy's face: scared, shocked and something else entirely.

It reminded her too much of her own experience years ago, and she couldn't tell Emmy she understood or knew what it felt like, because the words _"I know exactly what you're going through"_ were too condescending for situations like this. And being a profiler, she would know when words weren't enough, so she sympathized with Emmy in the best way a diplomat's daughter could manage.

By being quiet

When they finally arrived at their destination six minutes later, it was Emmy who finally broke the meditative silence. Looking up, she quickly scanned the surroundings from the car windows and looked at Emily with curious eyes before asking a question that Emily was slightly nervous to answer,

"Where are we?"

Emily gave Emmy's hand a quick squeeze before opening her car door and walking around to the passenger side where she did the same in hopes that Emmy would follow her lead. When the girl didn't budge, she got on her knees and attempted to look her in the eyes before answering the question.

"We're at a mall, okay?" she spoke softly, "We're in the parking lot of a mall and I'm asking you to come inside with me. Please."

There was a long silence as the two of them made eye contact for the first time that morning and in that sudden instant Emily was given a shocking reminder of the worst day of her life; she could see herself shaking as she held the little plastic stick in her hand, knowing that that tiny insignificant little pink plus sign was going to change her life forever. She could see herself crying as she hugged her knees to her chest, wondering what on earth she was going to do. She could see herself whispering to Matthew as he hugged her tight and told her everything was going to be okay, and she saw herself lying on that operating table, refusing to let the tears come. She almost backed away to avoid looking at Emmy's terrified expression, but knowing exactly how that would look to her, she forced a smile and reached for Emmy's hand as another image of herself sitting in a church came to mind that she desperately tried to push away.

"Okay" whispered Emmy, stepping out of the car and closing the door behind her. And Emily knew that they were in for another "little chat".

Except for this one wasn't going to be nearly as "cheery" as the previous one had been and both of them were aware of it as they walked towards the glowing building, their slow breaths coming in white puffs of air, clearly visible to the early morning shoppers that were starting to fill the area.


End file.
